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Bsh coordinates neuronal fate specification with synaptic connectivity

View ORCID ProfileChundi Xu, Tyler Ramos, Chris Q. Doe
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.01.462699
Chundi Xu
1Institute of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
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  • For correspondence: cxu3@uoregon.edu
Tyler Ramos
1Institute of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
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Chris Q. Doe
1Institute of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
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Abstract

It is widely accepted that neuronal fate is initially determined by spatial and temporal cues acting in progenitors, followed by transcription factors (TFs) that act in post-mitotic neurons to specify their functional identity (e.g. ion channels, cell surface molecules, and neurotransmitters). It remains unclear, however, whether a single TF can coordinately regulate both steps. The five lamina neurons (L1-L5) in the Drosophila visual system, are an ideal model for addressing this question. Here we show that the homeodomain TF Brain-specific homeobox (Bsh) is expressed in a subset of lamina precursor cells (LPCs) where it specifies L4 and L5 fate, and suppresses homeodomain TF Zfh1 to prevent L1 and L3 fate. Subsequently, in L4 neurons, Bsh initiates a feed forward loop with another homeodomain TF Apterous (Ap) to drive recognition molecule DIP-β expression, which is required for precise L4 synaptic connectivity. We conclude that a single homeodomain TF expressed in both precursors and neurons can coordinately generate neuronal fate and synaptic connectivity, thereby linking these two developmental events. Furthermore, our results suggest that acquiring LPC expression of a single TF, Bsh, may be sufficient to drive the evolution of increased brain complexity.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted October 01, 2021.
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Bsh coordinates neuronal fate specification with synaptic connectivity
Chundi Xu, Tyler Ramos, Chris Q. Doe
bioRxiv 2021.10.01.462699; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.01.462699
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Bsh coordinates neuronal fate specification with synaptic connectivity
Chundi Xu, Tyler Ramos, Chris Q. Doe
bioRxiv 2021.10.01.462699; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.01.462699

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